1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to lacrosse sticks, and more particularly, to a collar for providing an offset between the axis of a shaft and the socket axis of the juncture of a head attached to the shaft. The present invention also relates to a lacrosse stick head having a socket axis that provides an offset.
2. Background of the Invention
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional lacrosse stick 100 having a handle 102 shown in dotted lines and a double-wall synthetic head 104. Head 104 comprises a generally V-shaped frame having a juncture 106, sidewalls 108 and 110, a transverse wall (or “scoop”) 112 joining the sidewalls at their ends opposite juncture 106, and a stop member 114 joining sidewalls 108 and 110 at their ends nearest juncture 106. As shown, handle 102 fits into and through the opening, or socket, defined by juncture 106, and abuts stop member 114. A screw or other fastener placed through opening 107 secures handle 102 to head 104.
For traditionally-strung pockets (which have thongs and string instead of mesh), thongs (not shown) made of leather or synthetic material extend from upper thong holes 116 in transverse wall 112 to lower thong holes 118 in stop member 114. In some designs, such as the design shown in FIG. 1, upper thong holes 116 are located on tabs 117 of the scoop 112. On other designs, upper thong holes 116 are located directly on the scoop 112. FIG. 1 shows four pairs (116, 118) of thong holes that accept four thongs. To complete the pocket web, the thongs have nylon strings threaded around the thongs and string laced through string holes 120 in sidewalls 108 and 110, forming any number of diamonds (crosslacing). Finally, one or more throwing or shooting strings extend transversely between the upper portions of sidewalls 108 and 110, attaching to throwing string holes 124 and a string laced through string holes 122. The typical features of a lacrosse stick are shown generally in Tucker et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,495, Crawford et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,984, and Tucker et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,947, which are all incorporated by reference herein.
As shown in FIG. 1, the traditional means for attaching head 104 to handle or shaft 102 involves sliding shaft 102 into the socket defined by juncture 106 of head 104 and securing head 104 to shaft 102 with a screw or similar fastener placed in opening 107. In effect, the socket of juncture 106 serves as a female connection that receives shaft 102. In this configuration, the axis of handle 102 and the axis of the socket of juncture 106 are coincident.
A male plug that fits within the bore of shaft 102 could also be used, as suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,026 to Dill et al. With this connection, the shaft can be held onto the male plug by the friction fit between the components.
When double-wall synthetic lacrosse heads were first introduced, the early designs featured straight handles and straight heads, when viewed from a side elevation facing a sidewall of the head. In other words, the lacrosse head remained largely in line with the axis of the handle. Since those early designs, however, the trend has been to lower the lacrosse head below the handle axis. Lowering the head can enable better ball control and provide a player with an indication of the orientation of the lacrosse head, which results from the uneven weight distribution relative to the handle axis in directions radial to the handle axis.